what are you using to verify the speed.

humm that is truly interesting. can you post a snap shot of your GPu-z screen? I'll go look at mine when I get to my system a bit later. The card is installed in the second PCIe slot from the bottom of the harddisk cage correct?

I used GPU-Z. It shows the card as capable of x16 but only running at x1.

Are you running an extreme processor so you might be overclocked?

Another suggestion would be to go to the nvidia web site and downloading the Nforce drivers from there. The only thing to watch for when installing the Nvidia driver is to make sure you do not load the NIC driver as the 720 uses a Broadcom NIC vice Nvidia. This is easy to do as at the begining of the install select the custom option and deselect the NIC and leave all the rest set.

It could be the Card so since you might be nearing the end of your warranty period a call to Dell Tech Support to get the issue noted would be in oder too.

This is a page on TechARP that explains the EXACT problem I am having but their fix does not apply to a Dell system. The screenshot they have of the GPU-Z utility is almost exactly what mine looks like. I will post one of my own as soon as I get home from work this evening.

Thanks for the response.

The processor is a Q6600 2.4. I don't THINK it is overclocked. If it is it came from Dell that way. I have also tried tech support through Dell and it says my warranty has expired but my account info says I have 32 days left so I am still working on that part.

I believe it is the card as it has been known to experience this problem with other non-Dell systems. The only difference is that other motherboard manufacturers have mostly had a BIOS setting that would fix the problem where Dell does not.

I almost tried your Nforce solution last week before the holidays but didn't want to try it before going out of town in case I something up. I will try it tonight when I get home.

Thanks again!

Here are some snapshots of both GPU-Z and CPU-Z. I also tried your suggestion regarding the nForce drivers but that did not reolve the problem either.

I am going to have to agree with you at this point. Thanks again very much for your assistance. It helps to have an extra set of "eyes" when something like this happens.

It does indeed at this point appear to be a bad card or (gulp) motherboard.  Only other thing at this point I might suggest is trying the card either in the other top PCIe slort or if possible another system.

A little follow-up...

I initially thought this motherboard only had one other PCI-E slot. After going back and digging up the owner's manual and looking at the diagram I see that it actually has three slots. Now all three slots (slots 2, 4, and 7) are listed in the XPS720 manual as x16. However, in slots 4 and 7 I only get x1 and in slot 2 I only get x8. In none of the slots do I get what the manual says they are supposed to support. Now here is where the merely confusing enters the realm of the surreal...I found a post here by a Dell rep that states "The top two PCI Express x16 slots have 16 express lanes. The bottom PCI Express x16 slot only has 8 express lanes."

Now I am inclined to believe what this person says and think that the owner's manual is simply mistyped but either way none of the slots on my board actually run at x16. The best I can get so far is x8.

Anyway, I have a WebEx session scheduled for tomorrow evening with a Dell rep so we will see what happens then (YAY my warranty woes appear to be resolved at least). I have no doubt that Dell will get me fixed up. They have never failed me yet. I'll let you know how things work out.

Regards